Resumes

BYRON McKIM

PRODUCER /DIRECTOR

2007

"Dancing with Spirit" - 6 x 30 minutes Performing Arts Dance series

* Broadcasted on Bravo!, APTN & SCN

PRODUCER /DIRECTOR

2006

A father and son drama unfolds at a local horse racing track

‘ The KING of SIAM ’ – 25 minute drama

* Official Selected to Festival de Cannes 2007 - Short Film Corner

* Jury Award Winner for Best Short Film Drama at the Long Island Film Fest 2006

* Official Selected to Los Angeles International Short Film Festival 2006

* Official Selected to Australia International Film Festival in Melbourne 2006

PRODUCER /DIRECTOR

2004

Aboriginal Performing Arts Dance project

‘QUEST’ – 1 hour Bravo! TV program

* Two Gemini Nominations – Best Direction in a Performing Arts Program and Best Performance in a Performing Arts Program

PRODUCER/ DIRECTOR

1997

“ Award Winning Aboriginal Film ”

BACK to TURTLE ISLAND – ½ hour TV Drama

* Award Winner for Best Short Film Drama at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco 1996

* Nominated for 7 LEO AWARDS - Winner of Best Cinematography 1996

PRODUCER /DIRECTOR / EDITOR

1997

An Instructional Video for Broadcast

The KASHINO – BO / 7 Steps to Self Defense

PRODUCER / DIRECTOR /EDITOR

1997

Music Video shown on MuchMusic

'SHADOWS' by Maria D'Amelio – edited in both English and Italian

WRITING CREDITS

The Vampires of Suburbia – Feature Length Drama

The King of Siam – Short drama

Diamondback – Feature Length Drama

The Fearless Four – Feature Length Drama

Broken Heart – Feature Length Native Drama

Pagan’s Sorrows – Feature Length Horror

Back to Turtle Island – 30 minute TV Drama

That’s Not Art, That’s Murder – Sitcom Pilot (comedy)

The Maltese Grizzly – Three Act Play (comedy)

STAGE DIRECTING CREDITS

1984 – 1990

Director of five (5) stage productions that included: “ Play It Again Sam ” and “ The Maltese Grizzly ” (Winner of Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Production )

QUEST - TELEVISION BROADCASTS & AWARDS

2005 ~ Nominated for two (2) Gemini Awards

2005 ~ shown on APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network)

2005 ~ shown on SCN (Saskatchewan Communications Network)

2004 ~ shown on Bravo! Television a Division of CHUM Canada

“BACK TO TURTLE ISLAND” - AWARDS & BROADCASTS

BEST SHORT FILM DRAMA – 21^st American Indian Film Festival/ in San Francisco, USA.

HONOURABLE MENTION – Columbus International Film Festival

WINNER BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY – BCMPA Leo Awards

7 NOMINATIONS – British Columbia Motion Picture Leo Awards

BROADCASTED on VISION TV, SCN, APTN & D NETWORK in Australia

DIRECTOR’S BIO

Byron McKim:

When you look into the background of talented filmmaker Byron McKim, it becomes clear where his vision and infectious enthusiasm comes from.

Byron grew up in the small town of Dresden, Ontario in Canada where his formative years were helped along by his 2,500 neighbors, a wonderfully eccentric father and Scottish mother, as well as her mother who, once passing away in their family home, decided to stay, “Do I have some great ghost stories to tell you sometime,” laughs Byron. “I lived in such a protected, safe community growing up. Dresden in the 60’s was a very “Leave It To Beaver” lifestyle. My Grandfather and father were in the appliance business and so at the store we had twelve different types of televisions playing in our display area for the customers. I would often sit and watch all twelve televisions on twelve different channels at the same time and know what was happening on all the stations. Weird I know, but it kind of conditioned me on today’s multi-media world.”

Movies became Byron’s passion quite early in his life. “I still remember this moment as if it were yesterday. When I was 7 – 8 yrs old my father took us to the movies in Detroit, Michigan. It was one of their bigger theatres at the time - it had the big Cinerama screen that filled the room. I remember he had to fold up his coat and place it on my seat so I could see the movie screen. We saw “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”. I remember laughing so hard and for so long – it was at that moment I know I fell in love with the movies."

Another experience that happened in Byron’s formative years that carved his determination/drive today was hockey. “Growing up my parents wouldn’t allow me to play hockey. But of course growing up in a very small town where everybody played hockey I was an outcast. I was 8 yrs old and I couldn’t even skate. So I decided I was going to learn along with my best friend. We both use to skate on the river for hours and hours after school, on weekends and when ever we had a chance. Every year we continued to practice on the river as well as play house league hockey. We started to do all right. We both played hard, no one teased us – and finally one year both of us made the team. We reached our goal through hard work and determination. I still play by those same rules.”

Byron’s entertainment background started in the early 1980’s in theatre when he watched a friend perform on stage and thought he could do the same. The drive to become the best he could be set him on a path as a performer (winning several local Best Actor awards for drama & comedy) and later as an award-winning director of theatre.

Byron’s decision to branch out into the film industry landed him in Vancouver in 1993 enrolling into a one-year course at the Vancouver Film School. Graduating from VFS with a Certificate of Excellence, Byron immediately began earning a living working in the local film industry becoming a member of the Directors Guild of Canada by 1995. Since this period, Byron has been writing, producing and directing his own projects in drama and documentaries.

Byron McKim’s latest accomplishment is the one-hour aboriginal dance program that he produced & directed for Bravo! entitled ‘Quest’, which was nominated for two Gemini Awards, one for Best Direction in a Performing Arts Program and the other for Best Performance in a Performing Arts Program. ‘Quest’ has also been shown on APTN and SCN. ‘Quest’ was recently selected to be screened at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco, the Great Lakes Film Festival in Erie, Pennsylvania and the Minds & Hearts Film Festival in Delaware. The program has also received reviews in Critical Dance Magazine and the Dance Current. Byron also produced & directed the native drama entitled “Back to Turtle Island” that won Best Film Drama at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco, received seven nominations at the British Columbia LEO Awards where the film won Best Cinematography. The film also received Honorable Mention at the Columbus International Film Festival and it has been broadcast on VISION TV, APTN, SCN, and D NETWORK in Australia. Distributor Shenandoah Film Productions in Arcata, California has had steady sales for the film throughout the United States.

At present Mr. McKim is creatively involved in the development of six ½ hour Aboriginal Dance programs for a television dance series for Bravo! called “Dancing with Spirit”. He is in pre-production on a feature length dark drama entitled “The Vampires of Suburbia” and he has just completed filming a father-son drama adapted from a novel of short stories written by Canadian writer Murray Logan entitled “The King of Siam”.

“I have not found anything in life that has given me so much joy, excitement, creative freedom, pain, sorrow and frustration all at the same time - which I have experienced in the film industry. I am always amazed how one person’s idea/dream can inspire others to be part of a collaborative effort to see it fulfilled. Being a filmmaker is like living many lives. You create life. There is a beginning, middle and an end. Completeness! A fulfillment. And then you get to do it again and again. It’s wonderful and magical.”